Bostanai

Bostanai (also: Bustanai, full name: Bostanai ben Chaninai; * around 618, † 670 ) was the first Exilarch after the Arab conquest of Babylonia and founder of the Babylonian exilarch Dynasty. The " Exilarch " was in each case the head of the exiled Jews, Aramaic: Resch Galuta, title of the secular leader of Babylonian Jewry from the 2nd to the beginning of the 15th century under the Persians and the Caliph. The Exilarch came from the house of David, had an autonomous office management, holding of court, jurisdiction, etc.

He is the only Exilarch, which you know a little more than the mere name. He was the subject of several myths and legends. After a dream story the boy Bostanai remains the only one from the family of David pursued alive. According to another legend, the Caliph Omar confirmed after the Arab conquest of Babylonia Bustanai as Exilarch, gave him the daughter of a Persian king for his wife and married their own sister. After the Sefer ha - Kabbalah by Abraham ibn Daud these related not to Caliph Omar, but Caliph Ali.

Sources, inter alia,

• Yearbook Nehemiah howler II 102-112
• Isaac Halevy, Dorot ha - Rishonim, Pages 314-315
• Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol 4, page 1527

• Person (Judaism )
• Jewish History
• Born in the 7th century
• Died 670
• Man